Online auctions
Much of the early e-commerce activity in the off-highway industry focused on the online auction and other e-marketplaces that enabled B2B and business-to-consumer (B2C) procurement activities. Palo Alto, CA-based IronPlanet.com was among the first major online auctions. IronPlanet, one of a few off-highway e-business alliances, involves Volvo Construction Equipment, Komatsu America International Co., and Caterpillar Inc. Since its first auction last April, IronPlanet has sold $4.4 million worth of used dozers, excavators, compactors, loaders, graders, pavers, and skid steers from OEMs including its alliance partners, Deere, Hitachi, Case, and Ingersoll-Rand, leading Forbes to name IronPlanet in its top 200 B2B websites in 2000.
Much like the automotive industry, which seems to be lagging in its B2C business because customers want the face-to-face interaction with a dealer, off-highway consumers are more reluctant to buy used construction equipment sight unseen. More than $28 billion of used heavy construction equipment is sold in the U.S. each year by brokers, dealers, and auctioneers, with average transactions ranging from $50,000 to $100,000. Buyers spend thousands on transportation costs and typically assume considerable risk since the equipment they receive may fall short of its advertised condition. To address this issue, IronPlanet began an exclusive relationship with DynCorp Technical Services, a global services company that deployed its international network of certified technicians to provide standardized inspections for used heavy equipment.
"The issue of trust has been a major barrier to consolidating the used equipment business with the Internet," said Reza Bundy, Founder and Chairman of IronPlanet. "Our strategic partnership with DynCorp provides buyers with complete, impartial third-party technical information."
The used equipment Internet auction industry is getting plenty of attention. Competitors in the heavy-equipment market include Centrack International, BigEquip.com, Aucton.com, and the recently launched IronOx.com, a joint venture of IronOx, Inc. and Trinity e-Ventures, both wholly owned subsidiaries of Trinity Industries. The site has an inventory that includes cranes and forklifts for construction, agricultural, and other related industries.
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